Fast Food Packaging; Another Source of Fluoride

While the largest contributing exposure to fluoride lies within the public water supply, a unsuspecting exposure may be within the food you consume regularly. 

Fast food wrappers and containers, made up of grease-resistance packaging, contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), which are synthetic compounds with fluorine present. Some of these PFASs have been associated with cancer, developmental toxicity, immunotoxicity, and other health effects.

Learn More About The Effects of Fluoride on the Body

While you may be thinking, "okay, fluoride is in the wrapper. I am not going to eat the wrapper." However, think again, PFASs can leach into food and increase dietary exposure. Researchers observed that 46% of food contact papers and 20% of paperboard samples contained detectable fluorine (Schaider et al, 2017).

Percent of wrappers found containing fluoride. Image by American Chemical Society

Another team of researchers ran an experiment to determine if flouride that migrates into foods from the wrappers. Indeed, the results indicate that fluoride does leach into food from the packaging. In fact, foods containing oils in these pacakages can significantly enhance migration of fluoride from paper into food (Begley, Hsu, Noonan, & Diachenko, 2008).

Here's A Solution

Eat more fresh foods! Rather than voting for fast food corporations with your dollar, invest in future that you want to see. Take the steps to an optimal diet. It begins by creating your own food. After all, it is better for your health and wellness.

create your own food

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References

Begley, T. H., Hsu, W., Noonan, G., & Diachenko, G. (2008). Migration of fluorochemical paper additives from food-contact paper into foods and food simulants. American Chemical Society Journal, 25(3), 384–390. doi:http://chemport.cas.org/cgi-bin/sdcgi?APP=ftslink&action=reflink&origin=ACS&version=1.0&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADC%252BD1cXislSqtLs%253D&md5=5a11497737734cf9e87c4b1a1a7279a9

Schaider, L. A., Balan, S. A., Blum, A., Andrews, D. Q., Strynar, M. J., Dickinson, M. E., … Peaslee, G. F. (2017). Fluorinated compounds in U.S. Fast food packaging. Environmental Science & Technology Letters. doi:10.1021/acs.estlett.6b00435